Thank You To My Sistah Girls

Yesterday I was in a blah mood until the phone rang and it was Renee on the other end of it.  We spent a glorious hour having one of those conversations that surprise surprise doesn't involve us talking about writing, our blogs, the state of the African diaspora, Black women's place in it or some of the other topics we've expounded on over the last five years.

Yesterday, it was simply girl talk. 

Yes, the Phenomenal Transwoman needs to be just one of the Sistah Girls at times.   I deal with a lot of crap inside and outside of the trans community activist wise, and every now and then it just feels good to talk about 'gettin' our girl on' as me and Renee call it.

It's nice for me to know that for that time I'm on the phone with Renee or any of my cis or trans girlfriends, I'm one of the tribe and I'm blessed to have these quality women around me.

Even better, I'm blessed to have quality women around me in my ongoing feminine journey that I can call my friends, ask questions, and get the answers I need that help me in understanding my evolution to Black womanhood and the role I play in it.

In my sistah circle, I'm not getting misgendered by some vanillacentric rad fem or hater.  I'm seen, respected and loved as simply another Black woman and it does wonders toward helping me stay focused on what I need to do to achieve my goal of being a quality Black woman.

It's hard enough to be a Black woman even when you're born with a body that matches your gender identity and presentation from birth.  It's much harder when you feel as though you're playing catch up to that status.  

So thank you to my sistah girls for doing their part to make me and other Black transwomen feel as though we are part of the circle and we belong. 

Thanks to all my sistahgrils cis ans trans. You make my life better just for being you, allowing me the blessing of being part of your lives and sharing some of the life lessons you have learned with me to help make me a better human being.

\n"; document.getElementById('resselect').value=zoomres; } -->

GLAAD Spotlights The EBONY.com Article

I met GLAAD's Communities of African Descent Field Strategist Kimberley McLeod during last year's Out On The Hill conference in Washington D.C.

I was talking to her at one point about my frustrations about the lack of coverage of African-American transpeople in the media and my desire to get the conversation started in our iconic media outlets like EBONY, Jet and ESSENCE like it was starting to happen for Black SGL people 

I guess Kimberley remembered that conversation because she asked me to write a piece for GLAAD during Black History Month that became the genesis for the article that appeared at EBONY.com   

She was also very happy to learn about EBONY.com publishing my piece on their website and let the folks at GLAAD.com know about it.

Thanks Kimberley for the invitation to write a Black History Month post, and hope I and other Black trans writers get to tell our stories in more of our iconic magazines and news outlets so that we can continue to break down the disinformation and outright lies circulating about trans people in elements of the African-American community.

And thanks to everyone who continues to show me love on that piece.

Dreams Can Come True For Transpeople, Too

Today I've had one of my dreams as a writer come to pass that when I started my transition back in 1994, seemed to be about as farfetched from happening as the LA Clippers becoming an NBA title contender.

The Clippers are on pace to make the playoffs and I got published at EBONY.com

When I started seriously focusing on my writing in 2001, it has been a dream to one day I would have something I wrote published by two of the iconic magazines in our community, ESSENCE and EBONY.

It's the online version to be sure, but still, it's EBONY magazine and I'm ecstatic it happened.      

A lot of hard work, long hours and effort went into getting myself ready and in position to take advantage of my break when it happened.  Even so I was still stunned when I received the e-mail letting me know they were interested in the piece.

So thanks to everyone who has been blowing up my Twitter feed, Facebook page and e-mail inbox congratulating me for making this happen.   All I did was pick up the torch Roberta Angela Dee carried for our community until she passed on in 2002.  

I'm trying to do my part to live up to her legacy and the standard she set in being an African-American trans writer while adding my distinctive touches to it and expanding the boundaries of what we talk about so that we simply are discussed as writers. 

Janey Mock will and is already exceeding what I do as the editor of People.com   I know when I can no longer carry that torch, we'll be in good hands

One of my writing dreams has come true (take that haters and KMBA) so now I get to move on to the next writing dreams and goals I have in mind.   I'd love to see my writing eventually appear in print in addition to other online sites.  

But today is also a concrete example to my transpeeps that your dreams don't have to die just because you transitioned.   With some determined effort, they can, do and will come true as well.

UA, Here I Come

I'm busily tweaking my speech, making last minute preparations, packing, doing interviews with campus media and getting into diva mode for my trip on Tuesday to Tuscon and the campus of the University of Arizona.

I'll be at the Gallagher Theatre on the UA campus from 7-9 PM local time for my TransGriot: Blogging at the Intersection of Race and Gender speech

I look forward to meeting all you Wildcats and people in Arizona who love reading TransGriot and I'm getting more excited by the minute to be headed there for the first time in almost 20 years.

And yes, I needed to get out of Texas for a minute. 

See y'all Tuesday!


  . 

God Loves Transpeople, Too

This isn't a subject that's up for debate or discussion.  Transpeople are God's children as well and if you dispute that fact I have to openly question your faith, wonder if you're a member of the Westboro Baptist Church or follow the twisted hate-filled Republican politicized version of Conservagod.

I am loved by the Creator and part of the diverse mosaic of human life.  My faith is what has gotten me through many trying situations in my journey to womanhood and is something that I lean on to this day.  

So no, being a trans Christian is not an oxymoron because I don't believe in conservagod.    I believe in a God that commanded all of us to love thy neighbor as we love ourselves, sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins and who loves me just as much as he loves you cispeople.   

God created transpeople, God loves transpeople, enough said. 

Whitney Goes Home

I've been watching the homegoing service of Whitney Houston for most of this rainy depressing day in H-town. 

I've also been contemplating the fact we're only a year apart age wise and its been a week since the shocking news circled the globe that she died way too soon.  

Sure the movie Sparkle when it comes out near her August 9 birthday will give us one last chance to see her and hear some fresh music from the soundtrack of it. But during most of the 3 hours and 45 minutes the service lasted, I was pondering a lot of things including how capricious life is.

Life is not only capricious, it's chock full of sometimes cruel ironies at times. I doubt that Dionne Warwick thought that she'd be the MC of her talented cousin's funeral, but yet there she was doing so. 

I thought about the now 18 year old Bobbi Kristina and how she was going to deal with the pain of losing her mother, and Bobbi Kristina's elegantly dressed grandmother stoically walking behind the casket supported by people on either side of her while dealing with burying her daughter.

As the parade of family members, dignitaries, ministers, and people from the entertainment and music industries took their turns either to say a few words or serenade her in song the reality hit me, especially as they lifted up her casket at the conclusion of the service to the tune of her singing 'I Will Always Love You'  this wasn't a bad dream and we would never see her again or hear that angelic voice live in concert.

And at that point I started crying at that thought.